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Whereas it hath been humbly represented unto the King, that, early in the morning of Tuesday the 27th day of November last, the premises of Mr. W. Hickman, gold and silversmith, No. 89, High-street, Southwark, were burglariously broken and entered by some evil-disposed person or persons unknown, who stole therefrom a variety of gold and silver watches, plate, and jewellery; - His Majesty, for the better apprehending and bringing to justice the persons concerned in the felony before mentioned, is hereby pleased to promise His most gracious pardon to any one of them who shall discover his accomplice or accomplices therein, so that he, she, or they may be apprehended and convicted thereof.
MELBOURNE.
And, as a further encouragement, a reward of TWENTY POUNDS is hereby offered by Mr. Hickman, to any person who shall discover the said offender or offenders, so that he, she, or they may be apprehended and convicted of the said offence.
Louis Wiener was noted as an importer of silver wares when he entered his mark 'LW' contained within an oblong punch with concave right and left sides, with the London Assay Office on the 14th May 1904.
He was described in 1913 as an Electroplate Manufacturer.
Peter Lunn entered his mark with the London Assay Office in 1974. He was with Stuart Devlin from 1972 to 1983 and a partner, along with Nicholas Plummer, in the firm of Peter Nicholas & Co. from 1983 to 1989.
In the long annals of the arts and crafts concerned with the precious metals, the standards of quality and workmanship distinguishing the productions of the London silversmiths have probably never been surpassed. That they are worthily maintained in our own time, is a fact which stands to the credit of representative firms such as the one named above — inheritors of traditions which their predecessors in business helped to establish. Messrs. Francis Higgins & Son, Limited, of Newman Street, are instanced here as conducting the operations of manufacturing silversmiths upon those lines of method and technique which have been followed by the best exponents at all periods of this famous London trade. Their business is doubtless one of the oldest of its kind now existing in the metropolis, having been founded in 1782 by Francis Higgins, grandfather of tile chairman of the present company. It has continued under the direction of members of the same family throughout its career of one hundred and thirty-two years, and was incorporated as a private limited company in 1909, Mr. Francis J. Higgins being chairman of the Directors, while the office of managing director is held by Mr. Joseph B. Stonebridge. This administration, duly promoting the commercial interests of the house, is at the same time fully in sympathy with the policy always pursued in regard to class and character of product. Buyers who have for years past held Messrs. Higgins' wares in high estimation, find them to-day as worthy of confidence as hitherto. The chief speciality of the house continues to be its well-known hand-forged spoons and forks. These are notable for the sterling worth and finished craftsmanship which a firm with a record dating from the old Georgian days might well be expected to take pride in exemplifying. About forty hands are employed in the manufacture — workmen for the most part of exceptional skill and experience; and there is manifestly a very proper sense of the dignity of an ancient and justly admired craft underlying the entire conduct of the business. Messrs. Francis Higgins & Son, Limited, do a widespread trade with connections of old standing in the United Kingdom, and have also well- established relations of considerable extent in the principal Colonial markets. It should be added that in 1911 they acquired the old-established business of Messrs. J. G. Crouch & Son, Water and Electro Gilders, Platers and Repairers (founded in 1802, and formerly carried on at 15, Bateman Street, W.) ; which concern they have transferred to their own premises at 9, Newman Street, W. They are consequently in a position to quote favourable rates for gilding, plating and repairing, and can ensure in all such work the same standard as in their silver work. Telephone : 8851 Central. Telegrams : " Solidness, London.
Another daring jewel raid was made in Kensington High St. the other morning by two men in a light touring car, one staying at the wheel while the other jumped to the sidewalk, smashed the nearest window of Stokes, the goldsmith and watchmaker in High St., with a mallet, and grabbed a tray of 50 diamond and sapphire rings. The sidewalks were crowded with shoppers, Kensington being the center of the big department store district of west London. Motor van drivers, employed by nearby department stores, and police motor cyclists joined in the chase for the two jewel robbers, but they eluded capture after getting into the dense traffic of Earl’s Court Road. The raid was observed by any number of people, and commissionaires attached to various shops nearby said that before making the raid one of the offenders had minutely studied the window trim of the goldsmith’s shop. The mallet was found lying among articles of jewelry inside the smashed window.
Source: The Jewelers' Circular - 29th April 1925
A grab-and-run jewelry raid on the premises of H. Stokes & Son, Kensington, the second in three years, caused considerable excitement among shoppers the other morning. Three men in a high-powered car drove up to the store. One jumped out, smashed a window with a mallet and seized a tray of diamond rings valued at $7,500. The car then was driven off at great speed. The window had only just been dressed in readiness for the day’s business. Hundreds of shoppers thronged the sidewalk of High St., which is west London’s greatest department store district. Although police officers commandeered private automobiles and gave chase the thieves got clear, the empty tray being picked up later near the Earls Court Road. When the store was raided some time ago similar tactics were adopted, nearly $25,000 worth of gems then being taken by the thieves.
Source: The Jewelers' Circular - 16th February 1927
At Clerkenwell on October 12, Mr. Walter Schroeder held an inquest on the body of Charles Thomas Read (53), a jeweller, of Northampton Square. The evidence showed that Read had suffered from some chest-trouble, but had not seen a doctor. On October 9 he appeared to be very bad, and his sister got threepennyworth of "cough-mixture" at a neighbouring chemist's. She was told to give him only half a teaspoonful every three hours ; but shortly after he had had the first dose his sister went out of the room, and when she returned a few minutes later he had drunk the remainder of the mixture— 1½ oz. For a time he seemed rather easier, but he died on the following morning. The chemist's assistant, questioned by the Coroner, said the mixture contained squill, aniseed, &c, but no laudanum. He was in the habit of selling cough-mixtures without prescriptions, and it was very rarely that people told him much about the patients. The mixtures were merely soothers. Simple cough-mixtures were even sold in oil-shops.
The Coroner: Yes, they are, and I consider that a great mistake. There is, however, nothing in the law to prevent them or chemists selling these things; but great harm is done indirectly, as when people are able to obtain mixtures which they think will relieve them they do not consider it necessary to call a doctor to prescribe until it is too late. Chemists have things to sell, but they should take means to ascertain the condition of the people, and advise them to call in a medical man. In the present case had a doctor been sent for the county might have been spared the cost of an inquest.
Death was shown to be due to syncope while suffering from acute pleurisy, and a verdict to that effect was returned.
Source: The Chemist and Druggist - 15th October 1904
